Bittersweet Chocolate
by Allegra Cadence
Summary: She was in hiding. She was scared. She was hungry. And for the first time in her life, she was alone. She drifted to sleep and dreamed of the days that were sweet, tasting like chocolate on her tongue. But, oh, what good is bittersweet chocolate? *New Ch*
1. Prologue: Crash

Bittersweet Chocolate

Prologue: Crash

_Crash_. Hermione shuddered, her stomach lurching with every explosion. She tightened her grip around herself, squeezing her eyes shut. _This isn't happening,_ she thought, _it just can't be possible._

The constant drip from the ceiling was a reminder of what was happening outside. She was in hiding. She was scared. She was hungry.

And for the first time in her life, she was alone.

So she closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. The air was filled with memories of yesterday Yesterday was so long ago. Days had melted into months, twisting into years. She recalled a line from a book she read in her fifth year, _The chains I wear are the chains I forged in life_. What book was it? Doesn't matter, but God, it applied to her.

She traded tears for memories and tried her best to _forget_. Forget about what happened, and why she was there in the first place. Just wash away like footprints in the sand Wash away.

And she drifted towards sleep in a place where night was day and there was no sunshine. It was dark, cold, and sadness watched her every move. She drifted to sleep and dreamed of the days that were good. The days that were sweet, tasting like chocolate on her tongue. But, oh, what good is bittersweet chocolate?

She dreamed of how she came to be.


	2. Chapter One: Promises

Title: Bittersweet Chocolate

Chapter One: Promises

Author: Allegra Cadence

Rating: PG for mature themes

Author's Note: Just to let you know, my chapters will hopefully lengthen, they will definitely never be as short as the prologue and probably longer than this. I prefer to put the author's note at the beginning so it doesn't "ruin the ending" or whatnot. 

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I really appreciate reviews! Whenever I get a review that is signed or leaves their email, I will always personally write them back thanking them, and will add them to my address book to notify them of when the next chapter is out (if they liked it). No flames please, only constructive criticism, and even if you liked an eensy weensy bit of it, tell me! You have no idea how much it means. I hope that's incentive enough for the readers.

Much love,

Allegra Cadence 

Chapter One: Promises

"Harry! HARRY! Stop! Please, I'm gonna barf!" She screamed, giggling between words. Harry slowly stopped spinning and she closed her eyes delicately, resting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her legs around his waist. 

Time seemed to stop. The world drifted into place and everything seemed so unexplainably _right_. They were two puzzle pieces that found each other. She could hear his rhythmic heartbeat when she pressed her ear to his broad shoulder and realized their heartbeats were in tune perfectly, like the invisible metronome in a symphony. 

Hermione giggled again, breaking the silence and opening her eyes. She grinned like a maniac and said, "Someday, you're going to launch me into space doing that."

"No," he paused, "I would never let you go."

She smiled and looked down. Her cheeks tinged pink, and she fluttered her long eyelashes a couple of times. Once again, she grinned and wrinkled her nose like a little girl, and said, "What if you had just put on lotion?"

He sighed, exasperated, and put Hermione down on the couch next to the fire. She sat up and he plopped down besides her, staring into the fire. "Well, we'll just have to superglue you to me, that way, you'll never leave."

He put his head in her lap and she ruffled his hair, bending down to kiss his forehead. Her soft hands caressed the side of his face with loving adoration. He looked up at her and his eyes opened wide. His eyebrows rose slowly and he looked in awe. She was an angel, she truly was.

"This is surreal, Harry." she whispered, looking at the fire. The flames reflected in her chestnut eyes, creating an aura of peace. 

"What is?" He sat up and reached for her hands.

"This!" She pulled away her hands and waved them in the air quickly. "This! You! Me!" She touched the scar on his forehead. "Us! It can't be true! It's too wonderful; it's too sweet! Some things, you cannot help but wonder- are they too perfect? Where is the snag in our own quilt? What is the catch, Harry?"

He held her hands once more and looked at her forcefully, if there were such a way to look. "Although I cannot promise no 'catches', there is one thing I am sure of. This is real, Hermione. Believe me this is real. I can feel it! It's electric! It's like a current flowing from me, into you, and you likewise. That is what love is!" He paused, "Promise you will never forget me. How our love is. Please."

"I promise." She leaned backwards against his chest so her head was right under his shoulder, near his collarbone. He, in turn, slowly leaned back into the couch so they were both comfortable. She fluttered her eyes shut, and he fell asleep soon after. Those were the good times.

*

Hermione tossed in her sleep, huddling in the few blankets she had. The floor was damp, cold stone. There was no way to be comfortable here. She opened her eyes, focusing on the puddle forming on the floor. _Wonderful_, she thought, _I'll drown before I can get out of here._ She closed her eyes again and wrapped herself up tightly in the covers to go back to her dreams. Her memories. That was all she had left.


	3. Chapter Two: Cheat

Bittersweet Chocolate

Chapter 3: Through Thick and Thin

Hermione's eyes flew open to focus on the constant drip from the ceiling. The puddle it formed was creeping slowly and softly towards her. The water was a thin film of mucky glass; nothing would stop it. _Believe me, _she thought, _we've tried._

She averted her attention to the flourishing moss on the other side of the stone cage. It had just blossomed in the last few years! Seems like only yesterday that he had pointed it out. He had said, "Look! Look what company we've got!" Or was that just yesterday? She couldn't bring herself to remember.

Everything she had remembered so far was all peaches and cream, but times weren't always so forgiving. She forced herself to look back on them- this was all she had left.

*

She remembered seeing the New Kid for the first time. He was definitely cute, with a very _different_ style that she couldn't quite put her finger on. He had a mop of blonde hair that fell in his eyes, and a broad grin that seemed to be plastered on his face. His name was Dylan, and she would never forget it. 

Lavender had pointed him out during lunch. He was a transfer student from America, and had been placed in Gryffindor. And he was a seventh year student, just like them. Hermione couldn't take her eyes off him, and once their gazes met, she knew he felt it too.

"So you've noticed the new kid?" Harry took his usual seat next to her. She snapped back into reality like a rubber band. For some reason, she couldn't look Harry in the eye. There was a pit in her stomach that she couldn't pinpoint.

"Uh, yeah, I have." She stuttered, glancing in his direction once more. He was looking at her again. She forced herself to turn to Harry. "Have you met him?"

"Yeah, I ran into him in the hall! He plays guitar, and he has a funny accent. I suppose he thinks we all have funny accents, but…" Harry drifted off when he realized Hermione wasn't paying attention any more. "Herm? You okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm just worried about the history exam." She flustered and pushed her food around her plate. 

Later that afternoon, Dylan caught up with her in the hallway. It was the first time she had heard him speak, and she wasn't disappointed. 

"Hermione, right?" He asked her, holding out his hand. _Wow, he's even more gorgeous in person._

"Uh, yeah, you're Dylan?" She took his hand and shook it. 

"Yeah! I saw you at lunch. You're friends with Harry Potter?" He asked.

"Yeah, he's my boyfriend!" She wanted to smack herself the second the words escaped her mouth. But she didn't understand why, because she didn't want to be involved romantically with Dylan. She loved Harry. She loved Harry. Didn't she?

"Well that's never stopped me." He smiled. She smiled warily. There was an uncomfortable pause. "Where are you going?" 

"Library, report for Potions. You?" 

"Me too. Maybe you could show me the way!" It was more of a question than a statement.

"Sure! I'd be… glad to."

They talked in the library for over an hour. He intrigued her. They enjoyed the same things, and were avid students and readers. She found out that he was an exchange student that won a scholarship to bring him here. He told her about America, where he lived in California. He went to Salem Wizardry Academy, the most elite academy on the continent. 

"You are amazing." He said. They were back at the tower and were alone. 

"Thanks." She blushed. She could tell he was going to kiss her. He was leaning in. Now was the time to say no. He had closed his eyes. Now was the time to back up. But she did none of those things

He kissed her.

And she kissed him back.

*

Hermione was making a list of pros and cons with Harry and Dylan. And so far, the only pro she could come up with for Harry was that she loved him. But for Dylan, she had so many pros; he was smart, he was really cute, he was a great kisser… The list continued down the page. But she loved Harry. She was going to tell Dylan that she couldn't see him anymore today. She was going to walk up to him and say, "Its over."

"It's over, it's over, it's over…" She repeated out loud.

"What is?" Dylan was standing at the threshold of her room. 

"Dylan…" Hermione started, but she just couldn't spit the words out. 

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing." She smacked herself mentally again. She had ruined the moment.

"Good." And just like that, he spun her around and kissed her again. And she kissed him back. The little voice in the back of her mind was screaming at her, this is so wrong! But why did it _feel_ so right?

"Hermione?"

Hermione broke the kiss to look in the doorway. It was Harry.

"Harry! I can explain!" She fumbled towards his retreating image. But then she realized that she couldn't. She couldn't explain her behavior and she couldn't explain why she just could not let go. They say you never know what you're missing till it's gone, and in that split second she could think of a million reasons why Harry was just so much better than Dylan.

She turned to him, her eyes brimming with tears, "Maybe you should go." Dylan nodded, silently, and left. She was alone, and the emptiness inside her filled her stomach with a painful lurch. The air she breathed didn't seem to fill her lungs at all. She was devoid of love, and all she had to give away were her tears.

*

_Like I am now,_ she thought solemnly. She was devoid of all happiness and the love that once filled her like a Thanksgiving dinner was gone once again. Except this time, she wouldn't get it back. _There's no turning back the hands of time…_ But in some way, there was. She could remember every detail and relive the moments, but then again she could not change them. _Turn back the hands of time._

*

"Harry," she started, touching his shoulder. He shrugged it off violently.

"Don't touch me!" He spat.

"Harry, please! I'm so-"

"Sorry? So am I. I'm sorry you believed all the lies he told you. Salem Academy? Ha! He's a reform student from Florida, sent here because he'd gotten _kicked out _of all the other schools in America." He looked at her, and his eyes softened slightly. But once he blinked, the green orbs were once again filled with anger. The breath was drawn out of her lungs. Dylan had lied to her the whole time, and she hadn't even known? What kind of scum- 

Suddenly her anger turned to sadness. "Love is giving someone the ability to break your heart but trusting them not to, and I broke that trust. I broke the chain and I am so…sorry. I'm so angry at myself that I could just," She stopped. Telling him this wasn't getting her anywhere. "Love is about forgiveness. I love you. I just hope you could find it in your heart to forgive me too."

Hours turned to days, and days into weeks. Dylan left the evening before, but she couldn't say goodbye. She didn't think she would be able to. Was it possible that the man she met so long go wasn't the man she thought he was? How he lied to her- she couldn't believe that, but he said something to her before he got on the train. He said that he lied because he liked her. Now the ridiculousness of the statement had sunken in, but then it was like a light bulb. He lied because he _liked_ her, not because he loved her, like Harry said he always had. Always. Not just a mutual liking, it was _love_. Once again, she went to Harry.

She crept to his dormitory, as silent as she could muster, praying that McGonagall wasn't awake and that no one was in the common room. She pushed open his door, and tip-toed to his bed, where she took his hand and softly, so softly, kissed it. His eyes fluttered open and, without a word, Hermione led him to the landing.

"I could never have gone on very long, you know. I could never love him like I love you, and he could never love me like you did." Hermione said.

"No one could love you like I do." He whispered in her ear. She led him to her bed and drew the curtains around them. And all that mattered was that they were together. Forever this time.

*

That was what brought them together, but what brought them here? She couldn't quite pinpoint the date, however, she could pinpoint when it happened. And if you could picture the irony, it happened the morning after that night. 

The thin film of water covered the floor, so Hermione sought higher ground. She climbed, without much stealth whatsoever, to what was once a window, but it had been filled in. Filled in to keep them in, and others out. Them.

The water was coming in much faster now. What was once a slight drip was now a steady trickling of clear freshwater. Hermione came to the realization that she may drown in here, but that would only bring her happiness. There was nothing left for her any longer. Nothing but her memories. And even those could never do.


End file.
